rail

Students from Āliamanu Middle School in the Salt Lake district of O‘ahu re-visit an issue they reported on for HIKI NŌ over six years ago: the pedestrian hazards around their campus and the campus of Āliamanu Elementary School. Most of Salt Lake Boulevard is a four-lane City & County road. But for a one-mile stretch, beginning at the two Āliamanu campuses, the road narrows to two lanes, increasing traffic congestion right in front of the schools. Adding to the problem is the fact that there is a popular shopping center across from the schools, which acts as a lure for students to cross the busy boulevard. In April of 2012, when Āliamanu Middle School’s first report on this subject aired, plans were in place to widen the stretch of Salt Lake Boulevard adjacent to the schools as part of the rail project. Since then, the rail route has shifted from Salt Lake to the airport, and the Salt Lake Boulevard widening project has fallen to the wayside. The original 2012 story will also be aired to provide context for the current story and to show how little has been done about the problem in the ensuing six years.

Program

ALSO FEATURED

–Students from Kalani High School in east O‘ahu show us how to get something we all need: a better night’s sleep.

–Students from Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy in the Waimea district of Hawai‘i Island give us the ins and outs of their keiki triathlon.

–Students from Sacred Hearts Academy on O‘ahu explore how their generation feels about ecology and the environment.

–Students from Kamehameha Schools Maui Middle School in Upcountry Maui tell the story of an Alabama transplant who marches to the beat of a different drum.

–Students from Wai‘anae High School in West O‘ahu take us to the last remaining dairy farm on O‘ahu.

–Students from ‘Ewa Makai Middle School on O‘ahu profile a young woman who uses dance to hold her life together.

Trekker Zay Harding takes on an epic journey across one of the world’s biggest railway networks. These railways were built during the 19th century by the British to move troops and raw materials across the land, and ultimately played a role in the independence of the country a century later. The railway tracks are some of the oldest and longest you’ll find anywhere in the world, and train travel doesn’t get any tougher than this in a country with a population of over 1.2 billion.

Trekker Zay Harding discovers the checkered and often-dangerous history of the Vietnamese railway. His perilous journey takes him to Hanoi, Hue, the DMZ and Ho Chi Minh City where he meets a general who led the final attack on the Presidential Palace during the Vietnam War.

Cuba was one of the first countries in the world to build a railway, back in 1837. At the time, Cuba was the world’s largest sugar producer, and its early railways were designed not with passengers in mind, but to transport sugarcane to the mills, and refined sugar to the ports. Trekker Ian Wright goes on an eye-opening and hair-raising train journey across this Caribbean island.

This episode looks at one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th Century: the Transcontinental Railroad. Trekker Zay Harding explores the rich history of railroads on this incredible 3,000-mile journey across America. Traveling from the Atlantic to the Pacific, through four time zones and 12 states, he experiences some of the most epic landscapes and stunning scenery in North America.

Since the 1860s, Bolivia has lost land to all its surrounding countries, leaving it landlocked and without vital access to coastal ports. As compensation, both Chile and Brazil agreed to build railways from Bolivia to their coasts, but they have not received proper investment since. Trekker Zay Harding travels along these railways from the Brazilian Pantanal to the Chilean coast. The first stop is Bolivia’s agricultural heartland of Santa Cruz, followed by the constitutional capital of Sucre. Zay then heads to Potosi, followed by a journey to Uyuni, where he visits the Salar de Uyuni – a salt flat rich in both salt and lithium. Zay heads to Bolivia’s administrative capital, La Paz, before concluding his trip at the Pacific coast.

Explore a uniquely captivating public space – High Line Park in New York City. Recycled from a defunct elevated railroad, High Line Park hovers 30 feet in the air and winds through 22 blocks of Manhattan. This “self-sown wilderness” of woodlands, thickets, prairies and meadows rises above busy streets and runs from the historic Meatpacking neighborhood through the Chelsea Art District to Hell’s Kitchen.

The 2016 Presidential Election will be remembered for many things. The ongoing rancor that drove the energy of this election may be a force that’s here to stay.

What about us? Has the meanness movement reach our shores? Locally, issues like rail, homelessness and GMOs have created disagreement and division among Hawai‘i people. Real tension among families and friends. Dissent between island communities.

Our own political campaigns have become meaner and increasingly negative. Voter apathy is attributed to a loss of confidence and trust in our leadership and the political process.

Have we changed?

Your questions and comments are welcome via phone, email and via Twitter during the Live Broadcast.

Phone Lines:
462-5000 on Oahu or 800-238-4847 on the Neighbor Islands.

INSIGHTS brings together candidates in nonpartisan Council races on two islands. In South Maui, incumbent Don Couch faces business owner Kelly Takaya King. This race is one of several on Maui that could impact just how pro-development the Maui County Council is.

In Central O‘ahu, incumbent District 9 Honolulu City Councilmember Ron Menor and his challenger, Emil Svrcina, have different approaches to the rail transit project. Menor wants to seek different funding sources to lessen taxpayers’ burden; Svrcina wants to cap off the rail at Middle Street. (District 9 covers Waikele, Village Park, Royal Kunia, Mililani Town, West Loch, Iroquois Point and portions of Ewa Villages and Ewa Beach.)

Your questions and comments are welcome via phone, email and via Twitter during the Live Broadcast.

Phone Lines:
462-5000 on Oahu or 800-238-4847 on the Neighbor Islands.